Agenda

Join the biggest marketing and technology event in the Middle East, where over 350 leaders and top minds in Martech, Adtech, and CX converge from 250+ leading companies. Discover insights, explore innovations, and strategies shaping the industry’s future.

  • Day 1 | Date: 9 September, 2026
  • Day 2 | Date: 10 September, 2026
Breakout Boardroom
09:00 AM
Registration and Coffee
09:50 AM
Opening Remarks
10:00 AM
C-Suite Panel Discussion
Purpose-driven Marketing: Aligning Brand Behaviour with Customer Belief

For brands, leaning into resilience is the surest way forward, in unprecedented times. Baking resilience into teams, strategies and, above all, customer trust.
This session focuses on how marketing leaders can strengthen customer confidence, protect brand reputation, and maintain relevance during periods of disruption.

Takeaways:

  • How leaders plan; sense-checking campaigns, reinforce teams, prioritise flexibility for customers new realities
  • Brand purpose and creating normalcy, planning ahead for business continuity
  • Role of brands in building social cohesion
Moderator:
Yolande DMello 3

Yolande D’Mello

Associate Director, Editorial and Production
Martechvibe

Panellists:
Parul Khanna

Parul Khanna

Chief Marketing Officer - Retail and Food
Grandiose

Naomi Mendez

Naomi Mendez

Chief Marketing Officer
Emirates Hospitality

Ilaria Buonpane

Ilaria Buonpane

Chief Marketing Officer
Wear That, Chalhoub Group

Eslam Mohamed

Eslam Mohamed

Chief Marketing Officer
Ali Al Mulla Group

Jean smalls

Jean-Paul Smalls

Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer
Emirates Hospitals Group

10:40 AM
Keynote
The Enduring Rules of a Perfect Story

Storytelling has shaped how humans connect and remember for over 50,000 years. Drawing insights from storytellers across disciplines, this session reveals the timeless rules behind a perfect story and shows how businesses and brands can use them to communicate with clarity, emotion, and lasting impact.

Takeaways

  • The timeless elements that make stories resonate across cultures and eras
  • Why stories drive attention, emotion, and memory more effectively than messages
  • How brands and teams can apply storytelling rules to stay relevant and future-ready
Speaker:
Kevin Chesters

Kevin Chesters

Strategic Consultant
Keynote Speaker and the Author of "The Creative Nudge"

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

VP/CMO, OUNASS.com,
Al Tayer Group

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

11:10 AM
Tech Talk
Where AI Adds the Most Value in Your Stack
11:25 AM
Coffee Break
11:55 AM
Tech Talk
Differentiation by Design: Standing Out When Everything Looks the Same

In the times of shifting consumer trust, and increasing information overload, brands are under pressure to stay visible, relevant, and trusted. At the same time, AI-generated content and highly optimised marketing have made many customer experiences feel similar.

Takeaways:

  • How to create a brand identity that feels consistent, trustworthy, and easy to recognise in uncertain market conditions.
  • Understand how cultural relevance and local context help brands stay connected to customers during changing regional dynamics.
  • Discover how customer experience and trust signals can become stronger differentiators than price or product features.
12:10 PM
Tech Talk
Predictive Analytics to Anticipate Customer Behaviour
12:25 PM
Presentation
Media Precision – Campaigns that Optimise Spend and Channel Mix

AI is revolutionising how campaigns are built and bought. This session explores how machine learning enables dynamic creative optimisation, predictive media planning, and smarter audience targeting—without sacrificing brand integrity.

Takeaways:

  • Use AI to generate and test creative variations at scale.
  • Integrate AI into real-time bidding and programmatic buying.
  • Evaluate AI tools for transparency, bias, and brand safety.
Speaker:
Akshay Singh

Akshay Singh

Vice President Retail Media Product & Monetisation
Majid Al Futtaim

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

VP/CMO, OUNASS.com,
Al Tayer Group

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

12:45 PM
Tech Talk
The Messaging Playbook for Cross-functional Teams
Why your customers disappear between web and app?
Speaker:
Sanjay Raturi 1

Sanjay Raturi

Senior Account Executive
AppsFlyer

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

VP/CMO, OUNASS.com,
Al Tayer Group

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

01:00 PM
Presentation
What Does Real-Time Marketing Look like Behind the Scenes?

How real-time marketing works behind the scenes showing how teams use live data to make smarter decisions on spend, messaging, and audience targeting while maintaining brand consistency and control during uncertain conditions.

Takeaways:

  • Learn how real-time data helps brands respond quickly to changes in customer behaviour and market conditions.
  • Understand how to adjust campaigns mid-flight without losing brand consistency or control.
  • Discover how automation and live performance signals can improve marketing efficiency and decision-making. 
Speaker:
Katib Belkhodja

Katib Belkhodja

Marketing Director Toyota & Lexus UAE
Al-Futtaim Automotive

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

VP/CMO, OUNASS.com,
Al Tayer Group

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

01:20 PM
Tech Talk
One Clear Voice: Monitor Brand Coherence with CX and Sentiment

Static campaigns are out—adaptive ones win. This session explores how to use live data to adjust spend, creative, and audience segments mid-flight, maximizing relevance and ROI.

  • Set up real-time dashboards for campaign monitoring.
  • Use A/B and multivariate testing to guide live adjustments.
  • Automate budget shifts based on performance signals.
01:35 PM
Lunch Break
02:35 PM
Panel Discussion
Community as Currency: Reimagine Loyalty through Co-creation

Rising expectations for brand authenticity, communities are becoming the key driver of stability for brands. Customers today don’t just consume content but they also play an active role in building trust.
This session looks at how brands can build strong, connected communities that go beyond engagement, helping drive loyalty, resilience, and long-term value in uncertain and competitive markets.

Takeaways:

  • Understand how peer influence and participation can create deeper engagement than traditional campaigns. 
  • Learn how to build communities that bring people together through shared identity, trust, and connection.
  • Understand how participation, peer influence, and social validation can strengthen loyalty more than price-based offers.
Moderator:
Yolande DMello 3

Yolande D’Mello

Associate Director, Editorial and Production
Martechvibe

Panellists:
Alvaro Martinez

Álvaro Martínez

Sr. Director MENA, Growth Marketing & Pricing
Talabat

Gaurav Sinha

Gaurav Sinha

International Marketing Director - AMEA
Domino’s

Hira Omar

Hira Omar Aamer

Brand Strategy Director
The Coca-Cola Company

03:15 PM
Tech Talk
Unify Storytelling Across Platforms, Teams, and Touchpoints
03:30 PM
Presentation
From Buckets to Behaviours: The New Science of Segmentation

Traditional segmentation is dead. Today’s marketers must navigate fluid identities, real-time behaviours, and contextual relevance. This session explores how segmentation is evolving—from static demographics to dynamic personalisation—and how to build adaptive strategies that reflect the complexity of modern customers. 

Takeaways:

  • Understand the shift from persona-based to behaviour-based segmentation.
  • Learn how to use real-time data to personalise experiences at scale.
  • Explore the role of AI and predictive modeling in dynamic segmentation.
Speaker:
Harry Lonergan 1

Harry Lonergan

Digital Marketing Director
Chalhoub Group

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

Marc-Oliver Schmiedle

VP/CMO, OUNASS.com,
Al Tayer Group

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

03:50 PM
Tech Talk
Hyper-personalisation via Contextual Signals, and Privacy-first Frameworks
04:05 PM
Interactive Session
Creativity, and why it is the most important skill in business (and life)
  • Creativity is not a job title or a department; it is the pursuit of new and better answers. It has been proven to make individuals happier, healthier, and wealthier.
  • Creativity enables people to endure the unendurable, adapt to the unthinkable, and overcome the insurmountable. Based on the best-selling book The Creative Nudge, this interactive session explains the importance of creativity in work and life, outlines the societal and scientific barriers that prevent its wider application, and shares simple, practical ways to overcome them.
  • The session helps participants discover, recognise, adopt, and adapt the creative skills required to stand apart in a world of constant change and flux.
Speaker:
Kevin Chesters

Kevin Chesters

Strategic Consultant, Keynote Speaker and the Author of "The Creative Nudge"

Joshua Mathias

Joshua Mathias

Head of Media & Digital Middle East & Africa
Huawei Consumer Business Group

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

03:30 PM
Panel Discussion
Seat at the Table: Marketing as a Strategic Growth Engine

Build a roadmap for evolving your team from campaign execution to strategic leadership. This session explores how CMOs and marketing leaders are stepping into boardroom conversations, influencing product strategy, and driving measurable business outcomes.

  • Learn to speak the language of finance, operations, and strategy to gain executive influence.
  • Explore frameworks for aligning marketing KPIs with business objectives.
  • Discover how marketing can lead cross-functional initiatives like CX, ESG, and digital transformation.
George Yaryura

George Yaryura

Senior Vice President, Marketing,
Mashreq

Joshua Mathias

Joshua Mathias

Head of Media & Digital Middle East & Africa
Huawei Consumer Business Group

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

04:45 PM
End of Day One
Breakout Boardroom
09:00 AM
Registration and Coffee
09:50 AM
Opening Remarks
10:00 AM
Panel Discussion
Seat at the Table: Marketing as a Strategic Growth Engine

Marketing leaders are expected to do more than run campaigns. They are now expected to support business growth, guide decisions, and help companies stay strong in changing conditions. In this session, we will talk about how CMOs and marketing leaders can play a bigger role in business decisions by using customer insights, working closely with other teams, and showing clear results that matter to the business.

Takeaways

  • Learn how marketing can support business goals in uncertain and fast-changing times.
  • Understand how customer insights can help shape decisions about products and strategy.
  • Discover how to show clear business impact by working closely with finance, sales, and operations.
Moderator:
Jamie Buchanan

Jamie Buchanan

Senior Brand & Marketing Leader

Panellists:
George Yaryura

George Yaryura

Senior Vice President, Marketing
Mashreq

Zia Rahamat

Zia Rahamat

Director of Growth & Analytics
Anghami

Anne Tulloch

Anne Tulloch

Divisional Marketing Director - Beauty & Wellness
Alshaya group

Yara Milbes

Yara Milbes

SVP Marketing & Growth
Lucidya

Joy Dabeet

Joy Dabeet

Chief Marketing Officer
amana

10:40 AM
Keynote
Mind-bending Visuals: Gen AI For Content Creation

Dive into the transformative potential of generative AI tools like MidJourney, ChatGPT, Kling, Nano Banana, Weavy and more to create visuals, videos, and scroll-stopping social content.

Takeaways: 

  • Move from linear to “circular” workflows — enabling concepts to be taken across the line without a massive resource spent  
  • How brands can stay authentic while using these tools
  • Achieve culturally accurate storytelling without excessive influence from generically trained models
  • Rising above the generic clutter of AI-generated content – applying vision, taste, and empathy when producing with AI, and
  • Why selecting the right content in the right order is now more essential than producing content itself
Speaker:
Ross Symons

Ross Symons

Generative AI Coach and Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder
ZenRobot

Zia Rahamat

Zia Rahamat

Director of Growth & Analytics
Anghami

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

11:10 AM
Tech Talk
Designing Opt-in Experiences that Feel Empowering
11:25 AM
Coffee Break
11:55 AM
Tech Talk
Post-Automation Marketing: Agentic CX as the New Pillar of Customer Retention and Loyalty

Most brands today are data-rich but action-poor, with customer intelligence and execution existing in disconnected systems. This session explores how Agentic CX bridges the gap by unifying regional intelligence with autonomous execution, enabling brands to move from simply understanding customers to instantly solving their needs. It will also highlight why, in the post-automation era, immediate, culturally intelligent resolution is becoming the new foundation of customer retention and loyalty.

Takeaways:

  • From “Knowing” to “Solving”: Most brands are “data rich but action poor.” They have deep intelligence but fragmented execution. Agentic CX acts as the bridge that connects the two, shifting brands from simply understanding customers to delivering outcomes.
  • The End of the Fragmented Stack: Retention remains challenging because customer intelligence (Social/Data) is disconnected from action (Service/CRMs). Agentic CX unifies regional intelligence with autonomous execution on a single platform.
  • Resolution is the New Loyalty: In the post-automation world, loyalty is no longer built through content or marketing emails. It is created when customer intent is met with an immediate, autonomous outcome that removes friction from the customer journey.
  • The Regional Advantage (Lucidya’s Edge): Autonomous execution is only effective when AI understands the cultural and linguistic nuances of the market. Regional intelligence enables AI agents to engage customers in ways that build trust, relevance, and long-term loyalty.
Speaker:
Vanja Novakovic

Vanja Novakovic

Director of Product Marketing & Customer Strategy
Lucidya

Zia Rahamat

Zia Rahamat

Director of Growth & Analytics
Anghami

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

12:10 PM
Fireside Chat
From Checkout to Consideration: Retail Media's Evolving Role in Brand Building

As retail media networks across the Middle East continue to evolve, brands are increasingly using these environments to shape consumer perception, and build lasting brand preference long before a purchase decision is made.

This session talks about how retailers and advertisers are expanding retail media beyond the bottom of the funnel, creating full-funnel strategies that combine brand storytelling, customer insights, and commerce data to drive both immediate sales and long-term growth. 

Key Takeaways:

  • How retail media is evolving from a conversion-focused channel into a powerful platform for brand building and customer engagement.
  • How brands can balance short-term performance objectives with long-term investments in awareness, consideration, and brand equity.
  • How leading retailers and advertisers are creating full-funnel retail media experiences that influence shoppers throughout the entire path to purchase.
Speaker:
Jatin Kalra

Jatin Kalra

Vice President & Country Head
Apparel Group

Zia Rahamat

Zia Rahamat

Director of Growth & Analytics
Anghami

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

12:50 PM
Tech Talk
Where 30% of DOOH Budget Gets Wasted and How to Win It Back with Measurement

A significant proportion of DOOH budgets is lost due to planning inefficiencies, delivery gaps, and limited optimisation. This session explores where that waste occurs and how robust measurement can uncover it. Learn how location intelligence, monitoring and heatmaps ensure budgets are spent on effective contacts rather than assumption-led buying.

Takeaways:

  • Reduce planning waste by using location intelligence and heatmaps to identify where and when the target audience actually moves.
  • Tackle delivery waste through monitoring and measurement that reveal what was delivered by screen and time slot and what was not.
  • Eliminate optimisation waste by measuring results by location and time, enabling budget reallocation to high-performing zones while cutting ineffective spend.
Speaker:
Mohammed Suhaim 1

Mohammed Suhaim

Head of Business Development & Partnerships – MENA & Asia
Geomotive

Zia Rahamat

Zia Rahamat

Director of Growth & Analytics
Anghami

Ashnee Thacker

Ashnee Thacker

Associate Account Director,
The Trade Desk

01:05 PM
Lunch Break
02:05 PM
Tech Talk
Attribution Models that Reflect Modern Customer Journeys
02:20 PM
Panel Discussion
Lean, Smart, Impactful: Budgeting for What Matters Most

Marketing teams are under pressure to do more with less budget. At the same time, changing market conditions and uncertain demand make it harder to plan and spend confidently.

This session explores how marketing leaders can make smarter budget decisions, focus on what really drives results, and stay flexible when conditions change. It also looks at how to clearly show the value of marketing spend to leadership.

Takeaways:

  • Learn how to prioritise marketing spend on what delivers the most impact.
  • Understand how to track performance and adjust budgets when market conditions change.
  • Discover how to clearly explain and defend marketing investment to leadership teams.
Panellists:
Umar Khan 1

Umar Khan

Marketing Director
Emaar

Mohamed Nina

Nina Mohamed

Cluster Director of Marketing & Communications
Movenpick and Pullman resort Al Marjan Island

Nitish Jalan

Nitish Jalan

Director - Revenue Growth and Advanced Analytics
Americana Restaurants

JF maille

JF Maille

Marketing Director - Sports Division
GMG

03:00 PM
Tech Talk
Brand Safety – Verification Tools to Ensure Viewability and Authenticity
03:15 PM
Panel Discussion
The Consistency Code: Designing Seamless Brand Experiences

Customers don’t think in channels—they think in experiences. This session tackles the challenge of delivering consistent, coherent messaging and service across every touchpoint, from social to support. 

  • Map your customer journey to identify friction points.
  • Learn how to unify brand voice across teams and platforms.
  • Explore tools for real-time channel orchestration.
Moderator:
Sébastien Marque

Sébastien Marque

Vice President of Strategy
Luna PR

Panellists:
Mohammad Al Rayes

Mohamad Al Rayes

Director of Growth
YallaMotor, Bayt.com

Roxana Nicolescu

Roxana Nicolescu

Vice President, Brand Marketing & Social Media (Global)
Wego.com

Arjun Sarkar

Arjun Sarkar

Vice President, Digital Ecosystem & Partnerships
Dubai CommerCity

Dharani Dharan G

Dharani Dharan G

Director of Product Management
Careem

Mohamed Al Awadhi

Mohamed Al Awadhi

VP, Personal Banking Marketing
First Abu Dhabi Bank

02:20 PM
Presentation
Showing up with Relevance: Giving Consumers What they Really Want

Traditional segmentation (age, gender, nationality) is too blunt to be effective, especially in markets like UAE. Exploring what kind of consumer insights can inform meaningful personalisation that reflects how people actually live, shop, and consume media.

  • Focussing on attention quality — how deeply a message resonates, how long it holds interest, and whether it drives a meaningful next step
  • Measuring the right moves — dwell time, scroll stop rate, creative resonance, and incremental lift, not just exposure.
  • Crafting nudges that are relevant across cultures, and for specific moments.
02:55 PM
Presentation
Digital Shelf Space – Shoppable Ad Formats that Reduce Friction

Retail media is the new frontier for performance marketing. This session explores how to leverage shoppable ads, marketplace placements, and commerce data to drive conversion and brand visibility.

  • Use commerce data to target high-intent audiences.
  • Integrate retail media into broader campaign strategies.
  • Measure ROI with sales lift and basket-level analytics.
03:55 PM
Tech Talk
ROI Under Scrutiny - Measuring What Matters

Build a roadmap for evolving your team from campaign execution to strategic leadership. This session explores how CMOs and marketing leaders are stepping into boardroom conversations, influencing product strategy, and driving measurable business outcomes.

  • Learn to speak the language of finance, operations, and strategy to gain executive influence.
  • Explore frameworks for aligning marketing KPIs with business objectives.
  • Discover how marketing can lead cross-functional initiatives like CX, ESG, and digital transformation.
04:10 PM
Interactive Session
Challenge Accepted – Creating a Brand Campaign in 30 Minutes

A live demo showcasing the creation of a brand and campaign within 30 minutes, including social media, billboard images, and videos.

Speaker:
Ross Symons

Ross Symons

Generative AI Coach and Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder
ZenRobot

Mohammad Al Rayes

Mohammad Al Rayes

Director of Growth,
YallaMotor, Bayt.com

Roxana Nicolescu

Roxana Nicolescu

Vice President, Brand Marketing & Social Media (Global),
Wego.com

04:55 PM
End of Conference
06:30 PM
Gala Awards